1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electro-optical device having a housing which has a plug receptacle for an optical waveguide plug and an electro-optical composite component which has an electro-optical basic component into which light can be injected or from which light can be extracted. The basic component has an upper side through which light can be injected into the basic component and/or extracted from the basic component. Side walls adjoin the upper side of the basic component and connect the upper side to an underside of the basic component. A guide sleeve for a ferrule of an optical waveguide plug is provided on the electro-optical basic component and is connected to the basic component in such a way that when the ferrule is plugged into the guide sleeve the optical waveguide is optically coupled to the basic component. The housing is fabricated separately from the electro-optical composite component and has, in addition to the plug receptacle, a composite component receptacle. The electro-optical composite component is mounted in the composite component receptacle in such a way that when the optical waveguide plug is plugged into the plug receptacle the ferrule is plugged into the guide sleeve.
Electro-optical basic components of the above type are generally known in the art. Virtually every commercially available photodiode or laser diode is designed in this way. The diodes are in widespread use in fiber-bound optical communications transmissions. In this respect, the diodes are installed in a housing, for example a so-called FC receptacle, which is an expensive stainless steel part that is manufactured by cutting. Arranged in the housing is a receptacle contour for a plug in accordance with the respective plug standard and a guide sleeve for the ferrule of the optical waveguide. The basic component is customarily aligned in the housing and fixed by means of laser welding. The housing must be of different design for the transmitter and receiver since the diodes have different shapes. Such electro-optical devices are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,047 (German patent DE 40 21 434 C2), and from U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,752 (European EP 278 507 A2).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,145 (WO 94/12901) discloses an electro-optical device in which a slotted sleeve is plugged into a cylindrical tube of an electro-optical basic component. The problem with that device is that a separate alignment of the slotted sleeve which serves as a guide sleeve for a ferrule is not possible there because the cylindrical tube is formed in one piece with the basic component.